No charges after woman dies in Halifax police custody

Woman stabbed herself

The agency that investigates serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia says there are no grounds for charges after a woman died from internal bleeding during a disturbance in May.

The Serious Incident Response Team said a Fairview apartment superintendent called police on May 10 before 1:45 p.m. saying a woman was “freaking out.” He said she had smashed a window and was banging on another person’s window with a shovel.

The SIRT report said she had been abusing drugs and alcohol.

The woman said she wanted to kill herself, so the officers took her into custody under the Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Act.

The report said the woman resisted, so the officers flipped her on her stomach on a couch to put handcuffs on.

That’s when they noticed a knife caught in her clothing. It was covered in her blood.

Once they got her downstairs the officers noticed blood coming from the woman's abdomen

She was taken to the hospital, but died that night from internal bleeding.

SIRT later ruled that she had stabbed herself while on the couch. They said the autopsy results showed she had cut two major blood vessels and her liver, causing the loss of blood.

Investigators said the police were justified in taking her into custody and there will be no charges.